Of Jibaros and Hillbillies

Ricardo Nazario y Colon

"...this new world fraught with enormous new challenges weighted down with inherited old world problems, needs new navigational tools, new tongues unafraid of truth, and new poets with hearts and words almost too big for the treasure chests they beat in. You can find all of that and a hint of raw sugarcane in these pages."

"In Of Jíbaros and Hillbillies, Ricardo Nazario y Colón connects the dots between Puerto Rico and Affrilachia, creating a route that is poetic narrative, grito, reflection and canción. The writing is muscular, intimately masculine, yet able to fully embrace a female essence-in poems that reference the Great Mother or in intimate connection with a woman the poet desires. The present legacy of racism, sexism, eco-exploitation, and colonialism, of psychic damage suffered in war-all are articulated here. In a favorite piece, Nazario y Colón crafts an ode/psalm to his spirit brother, Frank X Walker, where the ties that connect are lovingly etched."